


The Fundamentals of Reading

by thecurlyginger



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Arthur being adorable, post series three I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-25
Updated: 2012-08-25
Packaged: 2017-11-12 21:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/495603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecurlyginger/pseuds/thecurlyginger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While working the red eye, Arthur discovers a new profession that's right up his alley - if only he could get his foot in the door.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fundamentals of Reading

**Author's Note:**

> Beta-free since '93!  
> This was just a quick fic that I wrote on my red eye flight before I could fall asleep. If only Arthur was my friendly steward!

The dull lights that guided Arthur's way as he pushed the drinks trolley through GERTI's cabin was strangely soothing. While red eye flights weren't his favorite because Carolyn rarely booked them far enough in advance to adjust his sleep schedule, Arthur found sleepy passengers far more agreeable and less insulting. Already he helped a mother and her son by warming up some milk in the micro for him and now only one passenger lit by an overhead light awaited the cheerful (if a little drowsy) steward.

“How may I be of service serving you this fine evening?” Arthur accompanied his memorized bit with a huge smile.

The elderly American man looked up from his book and rubbed his eyes with a sigh. “Coffee. Black, please,” he murmured, considerate of his sleeping neighbor.

Arthur poured the hot beverage into a cup and placed it with a napkin on the man's tray table. “Here you are, sir.” He remained mindful of his mum's reminder to keep the talking whispered and to a minimum and began to push his trolley back.

“Uh, excuse me?” The man waved Arthur back. “Yes, do me a favor,” he began, slipping a ten-dollar bill into Arthur's trousers, “and keep the coffee coming, if you don't mind. I know you're only allowed to bring the cart around a couple of times, but I want to finish this book by the time we land.”

Arthur stiffened as he received the tip. “I don't mind at all! But mum said – er, MJN Air employees don't accept --”

The man winked. “Then keep it a secret, hm? And don't forget the coffee.”

With a smile and a new spring in his step, Arthur returned the trolley to the galley and went to making fresh coffee. Douglas, he thought, would call the bill folded in Arthur's pocket a lousy tip with the American exchange rate, but Arthur loved collecting foreign currency. He lost himself in thoughts of the other currencies sitting in his desk drawer back home until he looked down the aisle to where the elderly man sat and saw him dosing off. Quickly pouring some fresh coffee into a clean up, he scurried over and startled the man into alertness.

“Thank you,” he said over Arthur's arm as the steward removed the older cup.

“That must be a good book if you want to stay up and finish it!” Arthur peered at the title but didn't recognize it.

The man scoffed. “Hardly! But I have to finish it or else I'll get an ear-full.”

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “If it's no good, why keep reading?”

“It's my job,” the man explained. “I'm a reader for a production company in Hollywood.”

“Oh, like someone who proofreads scripts?”

Folding a corner, the man closed the book and took a long sip of his coffee. Arthur figured the passenger was so old that he must have lost feeling in his tongue because the coffee was scalding hot without any milk to cool it down. “No, lad. Many movies are based off of books --”

“Like _Harry Potter_ ,” Arthur answered, nodding.

The man mimicked Arthur's nod. “Mm, but that book was popular to begin with so that's why they made the movie. But have you ever seen a film and it'll say it's based on some original story no one's ever heard of?”

Arthur tried to think back, but he never paid attention to credits because they were boring. “I dunno, probably.”

“Well, it's my job to read a ton of books and tell the production company which ones are good enough to consider making a movie based on them. This one,” the man gestured to the book in his lap, “is awful. But it's still my job to read it and give coverage.”

“Why not just say it's rubbish now and stop reading?” Arthur felt proud of his solution even as the man shook his head.

With a sigh, the man picked up the book again, signaling the end of their conversation. “I still have to give a detailed synopsis so other people can read it and decide if I'm right or if I'm just too old.”

Arthur didn't want to bother the man any longer, but he had one last question: “Can anyone be a reader, or do they have to be...”

“Old?” The old man finished the question with a laugh. “No, anyone can do it. It's best that way because a bunch of us old geezers don't read that fantasy nonsense so they need young men like you to give your opinions. It's a nice set-up, too, because I can still enjoy my retirement but afford to travel now and again.”

Arthur left the man to his book but was still brimming with questions. He loved to read action-adventure books and science fiction books, many that he thought would make brilliant movies. And he'd even read some so many times that he knew what happened without needing to read the back cover! But he didn't know how to prove himself to the passenger. When he came in with tea and coffee for Martin and Douglas, they saw Arthur deep in thought.

“Don't think too hard now, Arthur,” Douglas chided. “You might hurt yourself.”

“Oh, thanks Douglas,” Arthur replied on auto-pilot, not even registering the insult.

Carolyn, who had been up in the flight deck playing a game of “Which lyrics are actually lyrics?” and was winning much to Martin's chagrin, looked her son over. “What's gotten into you now, boy?”

Arthur looked up. “Hm? Oh, nothing. Unless...” Everyone looked at Arthur expectantly. “No, never mind.” They all sighed, believing that Arthur was just having another childish crisis that would pass.

“As enlightening as that was,” Carolyn began, “I'll be taking a nap. Isn't it nice to be so high up in authority that you can just nap whenever you'd like? Oh, _I'm_ sorry, maybe you'll experience it someday! Ta!” She departed while Martin grumbled something about being too tired to even enjoy their day off in Los Angeles after dropping off their passengers before having to fly back to Fitton. Arthur suddenly looked at Martin with a new light, remembering how he tried to pass his CV off to Herc some months ago.

“Douglas?” Douglas looked to Arthur with an eyebrow raised. “Can you help me with something?”

 

\--

 

Two hours later, Arthur was still hunched over his laptop as Douglas multitasked giving him posh-sounding synonyms for Arthur's synopsis of his favorite science fiction novel _The Three-Sided Mirror_ and rubbing it into the captain. Martin, meanwhile, was thoroughly put off that Arthur didn't approach him.

“Sorry, Skip,” Arthur sincerely consoled the captain. “Douglas just --”

“I just have a way with words,” Douglas interrupted, deepening his voice to sound as serene as possible.

Martin just frowned deeper. “That's just fine because I'm good at all kinds of things that you're rubbish at.”

“Like...?” the first officer asked. Arthur didn't have to look up to see Douglas' smirk.

“Like moving things and not misplacing keys and --”

“Ah yes, I forgot you placed first in the 'Not Losing My Own Keys' competition. How very proud you must be.”

Arthur groaned loudly to quiet them. “Gents! You're supposed to be helping me!”

 

–-

 

With another two hours gone, Arthur felt anything but pleased with their work. It sounded too confusing with all the big words he didn't quite understand, even though he could recite paragraphs of the novel by heart. He left the flight deck upon asking Martin for the time; the passenger was counting on Arthur for his caffeine, and Arthur didn't want to disappoint.

“Almost done,” the man sighed.

“Does it get any better?” Arthur knew he didn't have a lot of time to waste on small talk, but he was genuinely interested that a book existed that even an old man thought was boring.

A wheezy laughed followed. “If only...”

Arthur saw Carolyn sitting in the back wearing an eyemask and headed toward here. “Yes, Arthur?” she asked, startling him.

“How did you--”

“I'd know your slumped walk anywhere. What's wrong now?” She didn't bother to raise the eyemask.

He fidgeted. “I wanted to show one of the passengers that I'd make a good reader, but I have to write a summary of a story so I asked Douglas for help and --”

“Did you ever think that maybe it'd be best to be yourself? And consider this a rare moment because I might never tell you to act like yourself again.” Despite her words, Carolyn had a slight smile on her lips.

Arthur nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see it. “Thanks, mum!” His cheery response roused a passenger into consciousness, so he rushed away to rewrite before Carolyn could yell at him.

 

–-

 

“Goodbye! I hope you enjoyed your flight and that you have an enjoyable day. Enjoy!” While Douglas, Martin, and Carolyn winced at Arthur's impossibly bright attitude, considering he hadn't slept at all throughout the flight, he felt confident in his work. Luckily, the elderly passenger was taking his time with his carry-on bag and was the last to leave so Arthur didn't disrupt anyone else. “Excuse me, sir!”

The man reached out to shake Arthur's hand. “You were a real delight, son. We could use more stewards like you these days.”

Arthur blushed. “Thank you. I don't want to bother you or anything, but you said that even I could be a reader and I was hoping you would look at the cover I --”

“Coverage,” the passenger corrected.

“Yeah, the coverage that I did. I hope it isn't as rubbish as that book you were reading...” Arthur's voice trailed off with nervousness.

The man smiled and reached into his jacket pocket, finally pulling out a business card. “That's my email. Send it over and if it's good, I'll show it to my bosses.”

Arthur excitedly shook the man's hand again. “Wow, thank you,” he squinted at the card, “Ronald! Thank you!”

Meanwhile, Douglas eyed Carolyn. “Did  _you_ tell Arthur to write more like himself?”

Carolyn smirked. “You should be thanking me. Otherwise you'd be helping Arthur out with dozens of his book reports and have to sit through more of Martin's complaining.”

The aforementioned pilot left the plane with a huff followed by the almost-impossibly happy steward who was going to celebrate by spending his tip on a large Toblerone.  


End file.
